Team Evo

Category Archives: Strongman

Remember the lady in the skimpy red and blue outfit with gold bracelets that could deflect bullets? Well we have another one in our midst.

Hannah Hallsworth who runs Phoenix Fitness and is a key member of Team Evo burst into the Strongman scene two weeks ago with an amazing performance at the Titanium Strength Gym, Sheffield.

It was a snowy Sunday in Sheffield and Team Evo turned up in force to support PT Hannah in her first comp. the venue was great, the competition well organised and the atmosphere friendly and fun. A big well done to all involved it was a great advert for strength gyms and competitions. But back to the story…..

Hannah, never one to back down from a challenge, had been training for a few months to complete a log press 40kg ( for reps), yolk 165kg ( for distance), deadlift 100kg (for reps), static lift 8kg (for time) and atlas stones 40,50,60,70,80 (fastest time). A hefty challenge for anyone.

Hannah stormed through the events some of which she had not competed before at the same weight so each one was a personal best. 7 on log press – a different version than in the gym so adaptation needed from the start. 18m on a 165kg yolk she had not actually lifted before; 14? I think deadlift; static lift over 2 mins more than anyone else. In second place going in to the stones Hannah excelled even her own expectations and slammed those stones only two of them managed it and the other competitor is the second strongest woman in Britain.

On the podium in second place was amazing.

A brilliant performance and great support we are will so proud of Hannah and her commitment and dedication to whatever she chooses to do.

Watch this space for more details of the next Team Evo Event. We are on it this year and have, as a group, raised hundreds for various charities.

The next event is Flipping Amazing, our resident strongman who is pound for pound strong as a strong man from strongville, Adam, is going to attempt an endurance feat like no other. For approx 4 hours on Saturday 19th December 2015 Adam will flip a tyre (320kg) as many times as he can.

I cannot even do it once and it is a monster of a tyre. The effort this will take cannot be overestimated.

Details of how you can help and take part will follow shortly, but if you see Adam in the gym remember to give him some motivational input, a grunt or huraahhh or just a pat on the back.

2013 has been a very productive year on the competition front for Team EVO, with competitors hitting the stage , track or atlas stones with some great results.

21 competitors in total, returning 7 x 1st places, 7 x 2nd places, 2 x 3rds and 3 x 4th places in 18 different competitions.
Rachael Hayes, owner of evolution gym, continued on from the double success of DFAC Universe and World Champion 2012 by becoming heavily involved in the running of the DFAC world championship, held in Miami, while racking up the air miles with the DFAC team judging across the globe to ensure the world of natural bodybuilding has a future, evo is proud to be involved at such an integral level.

All achievements are worthy of mention but none more so than that of Jordan Dean. Jordan deals with the issues Cerebral Palsy throws at him on a daily basis and then to undertake the training and nutritional regime it takes to step onto a bodybuilding stage is just inspirational, and this is just the start, look out for more of Jordan in 2014.

2013 has been another amazing year for Kelly Freeman, again juggling the rigours of being a mum of 3, she undertook 9 competitions this year, resulting in 2 x regional titles, 2 x British Titles and 1 x WORLD title with the offer of the very coveted Pro Card. While placing 2nd in a third British level comp , 3rd in a further World Championship and to be up there in the NABBA universe too!!! Watch out for lots more of Kelly next year, will 2014 see her make her Pro Debut??

Steve Howarth won the BNBF British title and the Masters Pro Card that goes with it , Steve went on to place 2nd in his Pro debut in the DFAC World championships in Miami.

Jon Clark, Owner of Evolution Gym, has a helping hand in most if not all achievements this year and went onto compete in the DFAC PRO Masters WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS in Miami, placing 4th in a top pro line up.

Dean Hall and Russ Gale making the British Championship debut this year shows they can mix it with the best the country has to offer.
Chris Richards, Phil Dean, Mick Green, Linda Taylor and Nichola Rodgers made a great return to the competition stage all bettering their previous showing, with Chris and Nichola bringing home their first trophies.

Chris Wright and Andy Breen both did themselves and the gym proud with their first year of competing, it certainly wont be their last.
Evo’s first step into the world of Miss Galaxy Universe went down a storm with our own Galaxy Girls Emma Ryder, Hannah Holdsworth and Donna Pearson. Although finishing out of the places all out performed their expectations in the fitness tests and again did themselves and the gym proud. Look out for Emma on the Miss Galaxy Universe 2014 Calendar, what an honor to be selected as one of the 12!! Well done Emma.

Evo’s Strongman team started its year with Lee Parkes and Jordan Mitchell pairing up to compete jointly, flipping 350kg earth movers tyres and vast log lifts together in the northern qualifier, both lifted personal bests and came away from the new discipline exhausted but happy.

Adam Saltfleet has kept the pressure on consistently throughout the year, at under 90kg himself, he thinks nothing of flipping 350kg tyres, lifting 150kg atlas stones and walking with the 130kg farmers walk weights. All just everyday training for Adam. Adam qualified for his first British final and finished a more than respectable 4th place. Awesome.

Karl ‘Bomber’ Harris had evo out with him at this years Isle of Man TT races, and throughout the British SuperBike season, after not just surviving but walking away relatively unscathed from a 170 mph crash at thruxton in the early part of the season, Karl is certainly made of tough stuff. Karl came back an achieved some personal best laps at the TT. Watch out for Karl again in the 2014 season.

Evo takes great pride in all its members and all their achievements no matter how big or small, the contribution of training partners, friends and other members all go to create the atmosphere in which we enjoy success and cannot be understated. A worthy note to end on is the dedication and determination of Alan Jubb, Alan came to evo weighing in at 28 stone in the middle of 2011, 18 month on and Alan is now loving his new self, weighing in at 17 stone!!!

The venue is Consett Rugby Club, we have been warned about the potentially changing weather…we arrive for the weigh in and it is already scorching at 10am…gonna be a hot day.

The kit is already laid out ready for the competition on the all weather facility…Jack Lovett’s crew are very efficient!

First up is the Log press, 90kg for reps for the Under 90’s and 105kg for our Polish powerhouse Lukasz! Not the best start for each of us…for me this is terribly disappointing as I was hoping for this to be a good event…not happy L…

Onto the deadlift…210kg for reps for the under 90’s…we see some improvement in this, Jordan cranks out 3 good reps, 5 for Adam and 6 for me…we are all back in the race!!

Next up is Farmer’s walk…for the 90’s it is 100kg in each hand for 20m followed straight away by 120kg in each hand for 20m…this is brutal…great efforts again from all four of us. I mange to complete the course…a PB for me, and a fantastic second place for Adam pushing him well into contention for a qualifying place.

Unfortunately for me the amount of effort for the Farmer’s has left me with an old shoulder injury recurring…the last two events are going to be tough!!

Penultimate event is Clean & Press for maximum weight, Jordan manages to crank out the opening weight of 90kg…pretty good for somebody weighing only 83kg on the day…I manage 95kg, again not happy… the shoulder is not holding out too well…Adam pulls 100kg out of the bag to stay in touch with the leaders…great effort!

Final event is the ‘Spartan Medley’…designed with lots of love by Jack Lovett himself…for the U90’s it is a 250kg yolk walk for 20m followed by 3 flips of a 350kg tyre and finally a 160kg sled pull for 20m…ladies and gentlemen please leave your guts at the starting line…great effort by Jordan, Lukasz (280kg yolk, 4 flips of tyre & 200kg sled pull) and myself but yet another fantastic performance from Adam see him taking second place in the Medley to ensure a qualifying place of 4th overall…

I think it is fair to say that all competitors and spectators enjoyed the day…big thanks to all spectators from Evo, nice to see a good following for all the competitors!

Now time to rest and recuperate…fix all the broken bits and plan for the next enjoyable excursion…thanks for reading!

The events for this year’s qualifier have finally been released. After a good qualifying from Dan Shirt last year, interest in this competition has gone from strength to strength. This competition is aimed at athletes who do not use performance enhancing drugs. Athletes will be tested on the day.

Potential competitors this year are as follows:

Under 90kg – Lee Parkes, Adam Saltfleet and after getting a real taste for it in Essex Jordan Mitchell is going to give it another go.

Under 105kg – Polska Power himself Lukas Trotski

Opens – the question on everybody’s lips, will big Dan Shirt drag himself out of hibernation and give it another go??!!

The men will be separated from the boys by the following gruelling events:

Sunday morning is a cool dry day. Perfect conditions for the pain that lay ahead of us!
10:00am and all nine teams are weighed in, competitors weighing between 78 and 85kg. I just scrape in at 85kg and Jordan easily makes weight at 80kg.

Lots are drawn for the running order. We draw 5th for the first event, team tyre flip weighing 400kg for as many reps as possible in 75 seconds. The first four teams score between 12 and 14 reps. Our aim is 16 reps, thinking this will be enough to win this event. We get 16 with seconds to spare! The last team to go get 17 reps! Second place in first event, a good start!

Next event is Farmers deadlift for reps, 95kg in each hand. Jordan gets a solid 20 reps in 75 seconds. Good start, I manage to add 28 reps to make a total of 48 reps. This is enough for 3rd place in the second event.

Next up is the team loglift, an extra long two man log loaded with 140kg of weight. This is gonna be fun! We crank out 6 reps but get a dubious decision on 1 rep and only given 5. Fourth place in 3rd event leaves us in 3rd place overall at the halfway mark. We are then rewarded with a well earned break of half an hour to refuel for the next half.

4th event is the dreaded medley, all items to be carried 20 metres in relay fashion 60kg dumbbell, 80kg log, 105kg axle and finally 160kg duck walk. Brutal! We get fourth place!
Penultimate event is Frame carry for 20m, frame weighs 360kg plus! We do it in 12 seconds! Good enough for 4th place again.

Last event is arm over arm drag, a sled weighing over 360kg. This event causes a bit of controversy as only three teams are able to move the monster sled over the concrete car park. We are one of the three teams and come third in the last event. Joint 3rd overall, I am gutted!

Good start to the season. We had a great day, met some great people and by the end of the day we were both completely chin strapped! So back to EVO to get stronger for the next one!!